Telephone call processing and switching systems are, at the time of the present patent application, relatively sophisticated, computerized systems, and development and introduction of new systems continues, including Internet-based telephony systems, which are known in the art as Internet Protocol Telephony (IPT) systems. It is also true that the older telephony call-switching networks, and the more recent Internet telephony systems are beginning to merge, and many believe will one day be completely merged.
Much information on the nature of such hardware and software is available in a number of publications accessible to the present inventors and to those with skill in the art in general. For this reason, much minute detail of known systems is not reproduced here, as to do so would obscure the facts of the invention.
One document which provides considerable information on intelligent networks is "ITU-T Recommendation Q.1219, Intelligent Network User's Guide for Capability Set 1", dated April, 1994. This document is incorporated herein by reference. There are similarly many documents and other sources of information describing and explaining IPT systems, and such information is generally available to those with skill in the art.
At the time of filing the present patent application there continues to be remarkable growth in telephone-based information systems, including IPT systems, wherein conventional telephone functions are provided by computer hardware and software. Recently emerging examples are telemarketing operations and technical support operations, among many others, which have grown apace with development and marketing of, for example, sophisticated computer equipment. More traditional are systems for serving customers of large insurance companies and the like. In some cases organizations develop and maintain their own telephony operations with purchased or leased equipment, and in many other cases, companies are outsourcing such operations to firms that specialize in such services.
A large technical support operation serves as a good example in this specification of the kind of applications of telephone equipment and functions to which the present inventions pertain and apply, and a technical support organization may be used from time to time in the current specification for example purposes. Such a technical support system, as well as other such systems, typically has a country-wide or even world-wide matrix of call centers for serving customer's needs. Such call center operations are more and more a common practice to provide redundancy and decentralization.
In a call center, a relatively large number of agents typically handle telephone communication with callers. Each agent is typically assigned to a telephone connected to a central switch, which is in turn connected to a public-switched telephone network (PSTN), well-known in the art. The central switch may be one of several types, such as Automatic Call Distributor (ACD), Private Branch Exchange (PBX), or PSTN. Each agent also typically has access to a computer platform having a video display unit (PC/VDU) which may be adapted, with suitable connectivity hardware, to process Internet protocol telephony calls.
At the time of the present patent application intelligent telephony networks and IP networks share infrastructure to some extent, and computer equipment added to telephony systems for computer-telephony integration (CTI) are also capable of Internet connection and interaction. There is therefore often no clear distinction as to what part of a network is conventional telephony, and what part is IPT.
In conventional telephony systems, such as publicly-switched telephony networks (PSTNs), there are computerized service control points (SCPs) that provide central routing intelligence (hence intelligent network). IPNs do not have a central router intelligence, such as a SCP. IPNs, however, have multiple Domain Name Servers (DNS), whose purpose is basically the same as the routers in intelligent networks, which is controlling the routing of traffic. Instead of telephony switches (PBXs), IP switches or IP routers are used.
An organization having one or more call centers for serving customers typically provides one or more telephone numbers to the public or to their customer base, or both, that may be used to reach the service. In the case of an IP network, a similar organization may provide an IP address for client access to services, and there are a number of ways the IP address may be provided. Such numbers or addresses may be published on product packaging, in advertisements, in user manuals, in computerized help files, and the like.
Routing of calls in intelligent networks, then, may be on several levels. Pre-routing may be done at SCPs and further routing may be accomplished at individual call centers. As described above a call center in an intelligent telephony system typically involves a central switch The central switch is typically connected to a publicly-switched telephone network (PSTN), well-known in the art. Agents, trained (hopefully) to handle customer service, man telephones connected to the central switch. This arrangement is known in the art as Customer Premises Equipment (CPE).
If the call center consists of just a central switch and connected telephone stations, the routing that can be done is very limited. Switches, although increasingly computerized, are limited in the range of computer processes that may be performed. For this reason additional computer capability in the art has been added for such central switches by connecting computer processors adapted to run control routines and to access databases. The processes of incorporating computer enhancement to telephone switches is known in the art as Computer Telephony Integration (CTI), and the hardware used is referred to as CTI equipment.
In a CTI system telephone stations connected to the central switch may be equipped also with computer terminals, as described above, so agents manning such stations may have access to stored data as well as being linked to incoming callers by a telephone connection. Such stations may be interconnected in a network by any one of several known network protocols, with one or more servers also connected to the network one or more of which may also be connected to a processor providing CTI enhancement, also connected to the central switch of the call center. It is this processor that provides the CTI enhancement for the call center. Agents having access to a PC/VDU connected on a LAN to a CTI processor in turn connected to a telephony switch, may also have multi-media capability, including Internet connectivity, if the CTI processor or another server connected to the LAN provides control for Internet connectivity for stations on the LAN.
When a telephone call arrives at a call center, whether or not the call has been pre-processed at a SCP, typically at least the telephone number of the calling line is made available to the receiving switch at the call center by a telephone carrier. This service is available by most PSTNs as caller-ID information in one of several formats. If the call center is computer-enhanced (CTI) the phone number of the calling party may be used to access additional information from a database at a server on the network that connects the agent workstations. In this manner information pertinent to a call may be provided to an agent.
Referring now to the example proposed of a technical-service organization, a system of the sort described herein will handle a large volume of calls from people seeking technical information on installation of certain computer-oriented equipment, and the calls are handled by a finite number of trained agents, which may be distributed over a decentralized matrix of call centers, or at a single call center. In examples used herein illustrating various aspects of the present invention, the case of a decentralized system of multiple call centers will most often be used, although, in various embodiments the invention will also be applicable to individual call centers.
Even with present levels of CTI there are still problems in operating such call centers, or a system of such call centers. There are waiting queues with which to contend, for example, and long waits may be experienced by some callers, while other agents may be available who could handle callers stuck in queues. Other difficulties accrue, for example, when there are hardware or software degradations or failures or overloads in one or more parts of a system. Still other problems accrue due to known latency in conventional equipment. There are many other problems, and it is well recognized in the art, and by the general public who have accessed such call centers, that there is much room for improvement in the entire concept and operation of such call center systems. It is to these problems, pertaining to efficient, effective, timely, and cost-effective service to customers (users) of call center systems that aspects and embodiments of the present invention detailed below are directed.
Further to the above, IPNT systems at the time of the present patent application are much less sophisticated in provision of intelligent routing, parallel data transfer, supplemental data provision to agents, and the like. The advantages that embodiments of the invention described below bring to conventional telephony systems may also in most cases be provided to ITP systems and systems in which the form of the network between conventional telephony and IP protocol is blurred.